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On a day when most of Hollywood (and myself) were out from behind their desks making plans for the coming holidays, the WGA was busy putting coal in Big Media’s Christmas stockings by filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the AMPTP “for its refusal to bargain in good faith” with the WGA.
“It is a clear violation of federal law for the AMPTP to issue an ultimatum and break off negotiations if we fail to cave to their illegal demands. We are in the midst of the holiday season, with thousands of our members and the membership of other unions out of work. It is the height of irresponsibility and intransigence for the AMPTP to refuse to negotiate a fair agreement with the WGA. We reiterate our demand that the AMPTP immediately return to the negotiations, rather than going on vacation, so that this town can be put back to work. The DGA announced today that it may commence negotiations with the AMPTP in January. The DGA has to do what is best for its membership, and we will do what is best for ours. We wish them well, but they do not represent writers. Our strike will end when the companies return to negotiations and make a fair deal with the WGA.”
The WGA move not only took Hollywood by surprise, it put the Hollywood moguls on the defensive. Immediately, the AMPTP fired back with this snarky statement: “The WGA’s filing of a complaint with the NLRB reminds us of the old lawyers’ adage: When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the law is on your side, argue the law. And when you don’t have either the law or the facts on your side, you pound the table. The WGA has now been reduced to pounding the table, and this baseless, desperate NLRB complaint is just the latest indication that the WGA’s negotiating strategy has achieved nothing for working writers.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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that is a very good press release by the amptp.
but i’m not sure it’s gonna fly that they believe the big flaw in the wga’s negotiating strategy is…uh…to negotiate.
Thank You AMPTP for being so concerned with the interests of “working writers”.
Did these guys really put that in their press release?
Anyone else hear that strange wet thumping sound?
That’s Nick Counter beating Chris Lehane’s skull in with his lion’s head cane.
Bouncing Castle,
Whenever I read your name after yet another one of your hate-mongering comments, my imagination conjures up an image of that clown who lives in the gutter in Stephen King’s IT.
Do you think Lehane is secretly trying to sink the AMPTP? If so, he’s doing a great job.
I got it now! Lehane’s still working for the good guys! He’s purposefully sabotaging the AMPTP from the inside!
This is hardball, for sure… but maybe it’s time for hardball. The WGA has been nothing but diplomatic for five weeks. What has it gotten us? Nothing.
Lawsuits are the only leverage and language the Studios understand. At this point, I’m ready for a new tack. I’ve resigned myself to a crappy Christmas and am settling in for a long fight. The only thing I want now is for the Studios to suffer as much as possible. Who knows, when this is all said and done, the Studios may go the way of the silent movies.
If I was a lower level to upper level Studio exec (basically, anyone without a golden parachute) I would be shitting bricks right now. Writers will always be needed. Writers will always have value. When a new production system emerges, who’s gonna need some out of work “development” exec? If it’s in anyone’s interest to get this strike over with asap, it’s these development people.
See, and I always picture Chris Lehane as played by Martin Short’s SNL tobacco-lobbyist, Nathan Thurm.
Reporter: Today the WGA filed charges against the AMPTP claiming unfair labor practices.
Chris Lehane: I know that. You think I don’t know that? I’m well aware of that. So they wrote up a charge. That’s what they do. Writers write. It’s no big deal.
What PJ-Writer said! Exactly.
If it’s so “baseless and desperate” why are they so scared? If they didn’t know they are SO screwed now, they’d be happy. If the charges are ultimately found to be “baseless”, it would be disastrous for the WGA and the writers cause… but we all know, AMPTP and their PR lackeys included, that it’s anything but.
Man, the AMPTP/Nick Counter are not only greedy but DUMB! As any totalitarian/dictator worth his salt will tell you, give the people just enough to keep them from revolting. They couldn’t even do that and now… HA HA!
I’m starting to get a whiff…it’s smelling like collusion and antitrust. My guess is it won’t be that long until D.C. actually gets involved. Hmmm, who’s gonna be laughing then, AMPTP?
So the WGA filed a charge against the amptp who, in turn, fired off a statement right back. Ok. So, what good did all that do? Are we any closer to the only thing that matters – a new contract?
I, for one, appreciate how the AMPTP is looking out for me. Now, I win either way!
As a labor attorney I can tell you that the chances of any (competent) judge sanctioning the Amptp are very low. They don’t appreciate litigants who behave like children, and are loathe to intervene on situations such as this.
That said, another front has been opened. And I would not want to be representing management in this mess, no sir, no way.
Now let’s hope the NLRB isn’t so packed with Bush cronies, like the FCC, that they can actually respond appropriately to the WGA’s well-founded complaint. The law is with us, the public is with us, we’re winning the PR war, the moguls are sinking into a swamp of desperation – so what will it take for them to scream Uncle? I’m getting the feeling that the networks/studios are throwing themselves off the cliff for some reason. And much as I don’t enjoy picketing in the cold and rain or being unemployed and broke or seeing the toll this strike is taking on all production employees, I’m actually enjoying this on some level – watching the big bad bullies crying in the playground because the mean writers are picking on them, when the bullies are the ones who started the fight in the first place. It’s like Davey & Goliath meets Revenge of the Nerds. Then pen is DEFINITELY mightier than the sword, and our pens are mightier than the pens of those hack PR people who are probably failed wanna-be screenwriters who couldn’t make it in Hollywood so now they’re stuck writing press releases. The AMPTP has been completely unsuccessful in sowing dissension among the WGA. We are more than unified. We are actually gleeful as we poke fun at them and watch them squirm.
I’m sure Gavin Polone will have something important to say about this. Come on Gavin we’re waiting for your wisdom!
As a former lawywer with some experience in labor law, I would say that the WGA’s claim against the AMPTP does seem to have some merit. It really depends on some very specific facts. If the scenario is as reported here on DHD, it is technically a violation to issue an ultimatum, refuse to discuss the specifics of that ultimatum, then walk away from the table. That pretty much fits the definition of “not bargaining in good faith.”
Assuming the NLRB is free from political influence from Rupert et al (big assumption) they will most likely issue a ruling that orders the AMPTP back to the table. That would be a nice PR victory for the WGA, but hardly means the AMPTP will now bargain in good faith or be any more likely to truly negotiate before it gets into it with the DGA.
As for the response from Lehane and company, that quote about not having the law on its side will seem especially foolish when the WGA wins its lawsuit.
AnonAnon, yes, that’s what PR agents do, but the point is the AMPTP released a statement blaming the writers for “talks collapsing” minutes after they walked out. Their statement on the end of talks was written before talks. It proves they were never planning to negotiate in good faith, which in turn proves them to be a bunch of liars. As for things getting better, I think they will. Or at least I desperately hope they will. And I think this will help.
YES!
It’s on now, AMPTP ma f******s!
Don’t want to play fair. FINE!
The cops are comin’!
RJDocky, butter would not melt in your mouth!
Love ya!
God-willing, this is the beginning of the end. This was the last thing studios expected in a million years — that someone would have the balls to actually hold them accountable to the law.
This entire negotiation system is illegal, starting with the competitors colluding under the AMPTP. If these idiot moguls don’t settle this out quickly, the WGA will hopefully be turning to the IRS next to take a look at the “net profit” books.
Hollywood is a house of cards built on an illusion. All it takes is for the law to get involved, and the whole thing collapses.
God bless the WGA leaders for having the guts to finally say the emperor has no clothes!
Actually the WGA is arguing the facts.
Finally our leadership is showing some balls. Now audit the bastards going back to 1965. Keep them on the defensive. Keep it clear to all (as it is now) who is trying to negotiate and who his pounding the table. And whatever you have to do, keep Lehane in his current job. Little will help the writers’ cause with everyone else more than their insulting 1950s vintage “organizers” language and their ham-fisted attempts to divide and conquer with those cheap nods to “working writers” and that pretense of concern for the “little people” that couldn’t sound more cliched if it were in a Perils of Pauline short from the 20s.
Oh, another word up to the AMPTP, good luck driving that wedge between “working writers” and guild leadership.
Today, in New York, 300 working writers marched for three hours in a sleet storm. To support our leadership and our guild.
You sucker punched us two Fridays in a row, and we keep getting up off the floor. As of now, there are what, five or six shows left shooting, on both coasts? TCA cancelled, upfronts teetering, Christmas movies not being promoted on SNL, or Late Night or Leno — things are just going great for you guys.
We don’t like seeing people out of work (even though IATSE didn’t give a damn about collateral damage when their stagehands struck in New York), we don’t like being out of work. But we’ll march all winter and beyond, until you come back to the table and cut us a fair deal.
The AMPTP eventually will make a deal, or they’ll render themselves irrelevant.
WGA East on the line
The AMPTP said:
The WGA’s filing of a complaint with the NLRB reminds us of the old lawyers’ adage: When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the law is on your side, argue the law. And when you don’t have either the law or the facts on your side, you pound the table.”
That is an old lawyers’ adage from trials, not from bargaining and negotiations. It makes absolutely no sense in this context. It’d be like saying you never hit and run with two outs if you were talking about a basketball game. In other words, it’s stupid.
Mostly it shows how the AMPTP and/or the studio general counsels need to start vetting the press releases of the Clintonites. It seems like the AMPTP has handed Lehane and Fabiani the keys to the strike, and these newbies are promptly driving it into a ravine.
Kudos to Verrone, Young and especially Tony Segall. They have made the studio chiefs look like morons since day one.
Are there really 300 “working writers” in New York? By working I mean making a living at writing for television or features in the last year.
Well played, WGA! Meanwhile, the AMPTP’s PR Team apparently can’t even get the “old lawyers” quote right. Dare we hope that the NLRB will act swiftly? More to the point, dare we hope that there are a few rational members left within the AMPTP, who will now order Mr. Counter to try a new strategy — like, oh, say, actually negotiating. The Dick Cheney act is wearing a bit thin…
Anonymous @5:42 has a good point.
When will the studios and networks start firing all their lower and mid-level executives and support staff?
What’s the point of having all those script and series development departments sitting around collecting paychecks when there is no development?
So when those hundreds of people start getting fired, who will they blame? The writers who went on strike? Or the bosses who fired them?
The same bosses who could end this strike in a day if they wanted to.